Morgan McMichaels starred on season 2 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Though Morgan didn’t win, she gained fans all around the world. Morgan McMichaels has a very compassionate side. With the same fierceness she shows as an entertainer, Morgan looks out for those in need. This interview includes questions sent in from Morgan’s fans or “Morgasms” and from Tommi Rose.
Abby: I have seen videos of you offering help to teens that are in crisis. Is that your true calling?
Morgan: I believe so. I believe that I have been given a platform by RuPaul and the show. You know we may not have won because there is only one winner. We are all winners and we have a duty to her, to the show, to the people that watch the show, and to the kids. We didn’t have roll models. For me, that was the hardest thing to deal with. I didn’t know what you did. So when I came out, I saw people doing drugs. I saw people drinking. I saw people doing this and that. So that is what I thought we did. I thought that gays had a different life. So there was no one there to point us in the right direction. So I believe that it is absolutely my duty to talk to every kid. I get their phone numbers, and I will call them.
Abby: I have seen on your site that if you are in crisis…
Morgan: Call me! Leave a message, and I will call you. Any time. It doesn’t matter. My phone number is always on Facebook and it’s always on Twitter. So I will call that person right away. We will talk for hours and hours. It’s not just kids, it’s people of all ages. Men and women. Even if you think it is a stupid reason, call anyway. It is the most important thing to me.
Abby: That’s why I admire you! Do you do other charitable works in the community?
Morgan: I just did a benefit with Willam Belli from RPDR season 4 at the Gay and Lesbian Youth Center in West Hollywood. It was amazing! There were 200 homeless gay kids. We put on a party for them. We judged the dancing competition. It is something so silly. Even though the obligation was done, I stayed for hours afterwards until the thing closed down. I like being the last one out so they can get all of there pictures and be able to talk. I heard some amazing stories. It was heartbreaking, but it was inspirational at the same time. They have nothing, but they fight so hard for what they do have.
Abby: What was your participation with NoH8?
Morgan: We were in one of the promos for the NoH8 Campaign: Chad Michaels, Delta Work, Raja, and myself. Then we each did a photo. I think that it is important that everyone in the community even just be involved for 10 minutes a day. It will make all of the difference. These kids have nothing and no one. It was shocking! Drag Queens, Drag Race or not, everyone needs to go there and entertain them and talk to them. We are the figure heads of our community. We are the ones that talk, obviously, a lot. It is just important to me.
Abby: I read that if you had the opportunity that you would put a home together for the homeless kids.
Morgan: That would be a dream for me. A place for the kids to live so they can go to school and take care of there education. If I could get investors to do that, I would open a spot. It would be amazing!
Abby: I have questions and your fans sent some in too.
Morgan: I love fan questions. Morgasm questions! I hate the word fan. I hate that word. To me it implies that someone is better than someone else I guess. It’s a very kind of hierarchy thing. I call my fans my Morgasms.
Abby: OK your Morgasms would like to know if you are single?
Morgan: Yes I am.
Abby: Do you want kids of your own?
Morgan: I would love to have kids of my own. Absolutely. I would be a single parent.
Abby: What is your biggest fear?
Morgan: I have a tremendous fear of heights. I am not afraid to get old. I’m not afraid of anything like that. I believe that is just how it happens.
Tommi Rose: This from a queen who gets on stage at Knotts Berry Farm and climbs a girder 40 feet up in the air in heels as Pink. Do you remember that?
Morgan: Yeah. I was holding on to it though.
Tommi Rose: I’m taking you skydiving with me.
Morgan: Never! That is my worst nightmare.
Abby: Skydiving is your worst nightmare?
Morgan: That is my worst nightmare. If that parachute didn’t open I would be dead.
Tommi Rose: You don’t feel like your falling.
Morgan: I don’t care! You wouldn’t get me out of the door! You wouldn’t get me in the plane!
Abby: On Drag U you said that women over 50 are the fiercest women.
Have you ever portrayed a woman over 50 in your show?
Morgan: Yes. I portrayed a woman over 50 on Drag Race. It was the 3rd episode. I played the granny in our country commercials.
Abby: Voluntarily, have you played a woman over 50?
Morgan: Yes. I do Joan Collins quite a bit. I love Joan Collins. I have done Bette Davis at one point. I admire women that are older and still fabulous. Obviously menopause is a huge issue for women and it makes them feel less than what they were when they were 20. Gravity takes over and everything starts hitting the floor. If you can control how fierce you are it’s not what you have it’s how you package it. Like I say on Drag U all the time.
Abby: If you could put any celebrity in drag who would it be?
Morgan: Raven! I’m just kidding. I would love to see Santino Rice in drag just because he is a judge to all the girls and he’s never really been in drag that we’ve seen. I would love to see him slung up in drag and stand there for hours with a costume that he thinks is fabulous. Then let other people judge him like Pandora and Shannel.
Abby: Which 3 queens from any seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race would you trust to do your makeup for you?
Morgan: Shannel, Raven and Delta Work.
Abby: Which 3 queens would you absolutely run from?
Morgan: The 3 queens I would run from?
Tommi Rose: Can he pick 3 from each season?
Morgan: Girls that I would not let do my makeup would probably be, I don’t know. That’s a hard one. Akasha. I wouldn’t let Akasha do my makeup. I wouldn’t let Mimi Imfurst do my makeup because I saw what she did to Pandora’s face and I was horrified!
Morgan: A third one. I don’t know. Tammie Brown!
Abby: Does the winning professor on Drag U get a bonus?
Morgan: No. We just get the fact that our girl won. It’s not the fact that we are winning professors, it’s the winning girl. It has nothing to do with us. We are just there to help the girls. It’s the girl that wins. They all really win. The whole reason for the show is an inspirational thing. It is such a polar opposite of Drag Race where it’s a competition. It’s heated and it’s hard and it’s sweaty. With Drag U I think it is the polar opposite. Every professor is helping every student. RuPaul is there and oversees everything. What they don’t show you on camera is that she is there talking to the women at lunch time. She sits down and has lunch with us. She loves to tell some jokes. She will walk by when you are doing something very serious and stand behind the cameraman and make faces. You just bust into tears of laughter because she is just doing the craziest thing. Ru is the most amazing man.
Abby: If you were to give a “Lady Lesson” what would it be?
Morgan: My “Lady Lesson” would teach them how to take a picture and look smaller. How to turn your body to appear thinner. How to tilt your face to appear like you have a longer face. There are secret ways to pose.
Abby: What body part would you change?
Morgan: I think my lips. I need bigger lips.
Abby: OK Raven!
Morgan: I wouldn’t go crazy but I would want a little plumping.
Abby: When Raven described what it felt like I cringed. It sounds horrible!
Morgan: I love it!
Tommi Rose: What did she say?
Morgan: It tears. There is no room inside the lip. It’s not hollow.
Tomm Rose: It’s like your lip is being ripped open?
Morgan: It’s like the skin is being ripped open. It’s pushing through it.
Tommi Rose: I could never do that.
Abby: Who is your celebrity crush?
Morgan: I don’t really have a celebrity crush. “Mayhem.” Mayhem Miller is my celebrity crush. I do like David Beckham. I think he is very attractive. Ricky Martin is hot. Oh yeah, he gets me together.
Abby: How did you go from being a go-go boy to doing drag?
Morgan: It was just a natural progression. Raven, Mayhem and I all go-go danced.
Abby: All at the same place at the same time?
Morgan: All at the same place at the same time. Raven, Mayhem and I started go-go dancing at VIP. Then I got in drag one night just to shock people and change it up and be completely different.
Abby: So when you were supposed to be a go-go boy you showed up in drag?
Morgan: No. I just showed up at the club in drag. Then Raven was doing a competition at VIP, our home bar. Mayhem happened to show up that night in drag too. It just took off from there. We have been in drag ever since.
Abby: You once said that drag queens are the epitome of sex. How are drag queens the epitome of sex?
Morgan: I think drag queens are the epitome of sex because they really take movement, clothing, makeup and hair to a completely different level than a regular woman would. We do everything to the hundredth degree. We get to pick the best of each woman and put it into one body. We get to pick and choose what we want to be.
Abby: Here’s another quote. “I believe in tough love because tough love gets results.” Who used the tough love on you and what had you done to deserve it?
Morgan: My parents. My mother especially. I don’t accept excuses. I expect success. There is no failure. If you have the intelligence and you have the drive to succeed then you will succeed. Nothing but you stops you. So I do believe in tough love. If it was an exam, a job interview, you give your hardest and you will get to where you need to go. I have always succeeded in what I wanted to do in life. I didn’t get to win Drag Race but I got on. You know what I am saying? I passed all of my exams at school.
Abby: That was in Scotland?
Morgan: Yes. I have gotten to live my dream because I wanted to do it. So anybody can do it. It is tough but I would rather hear the truth than a lie. Delta Work has a great quote, “I’d rather hear the hard truth than a soft lie.” It may sting at the beginning but at least you know where you stand with people. At least you know where they are with you and where you are with them. I may be called a lot of things but no one has ever called me a liar.
Abby: When it comes to drag entertainers I know that I’m spoiled. I have gotten to see you here at Toucan’s Tiki Lounge for almost 5 years. Not many of the queens do the tricks and flips like you do. One of your Morgasms asked, “Did you do gymnastics as a kid?”
Morgan: No. I got grounded a lot though. So I would jump off my bed quite feverishly because that was all there was to do. Again, the tough love. When you get in trouble the TV gets taken out of your room and all of the fun things get taken away. All I did was study. Tough love!
Abby: What lessons did Chad Michaels, your drag mother, teach you?
Morgan: How to be a more professional entertainer. If you are going to do it do it 110%.
Abby: You were in the video S & M with Rhianna.
Morgan: Yes.
Abby: Did you audition for the submissive role?
Morgan: Yes. Mayhem and I both did. We sure did. Yes I was on there with Willam from season 4 and Detox from season 5.
Abby: I know that you are the one with a blue shirt on and then are the submissive on the lawn with Rhianna. I recognized Willam in the lace outfit with the yellow hat. What is Detox wearing?
Morgan: Big green hair. I just posted a picture on my Twitter of all of us. Rhianna was really amazing. She knew me from the show.
Abby: Doesn’t that blow you away?
Morgan: It kind of did. She walked onto the set and said hi to Detox because Detox had been in the Disturbia video. She looked at me and pointed and said, “You’re that bitch from the drag show on TV. Oh yes, Drag Race. OK. Fantastic.” We all got along really well. It was a lot of fun.
Abby: The next question is from Robin in Landisville, PA. She asks, “Were you surprised by the amount of people on the cruise who were not the typical ones you’d see at a drag show?”
Morgan: I work in Palm Springs and in LA. In LA it’s a younger crowd. Then in Palm Springs, it’s a tourist crowd. An older crowd. It’s straight and gay and everything in between. There is no such thing as a typical audience member. I think it is all about demographics and geography. If you are in West Hollywood you are going to get the hip, sheik, younger drinkers that are out on Monday night at 11 o’clock. You are not getting an older crowd at 11 o’clock. In Palm Springs you are getting an older crowd that will drink up and down the street. They are all retired. They have already done what they have to do. Now it is time to drink and relax and wait for God to come and get you. I don’t believe in a typical audience.
Abby: Next question is from Debra in the New Orleans area.
Morgan: I have not been there yet. I am dying to go.
Abby: Have you ever thought of incorporating your Scottish heritage into your drag attire and look?
Morgan: I do a couple of Scottish numbers. I do Merida from Brave. The new Disney Scottish princess. I am actually trying to work on a Braveheart number. I don’t know if I want to make it a female thing or as William Wallace. I haven’t figured it out yet.
Abby: Do you do Boy George?
Morgan: I do Boy George. I do Annie Lennox and Pete Burns. Big 80’s fanatic here. It is funny because I met Annie Lennox and she blogged about me that I was the best looking impersonator of her that she had ever seen. It rocks my mind. I am friends with Boy George on Twitter. He follows me. How does Boy George follow me? That is insane to me. Because Boy George is everything. Samantha Fox follows me. Come on! Sex goddess of life. I am friendly on Twitter with a couple of celebrities and it gags me. It’s like I grew up with you. Watching you on television and you know who I am. That just blows my mind.
Abby: One Morgasm asked, “Madonna or Gaga?”
Morgan: Oh Madonna! Are you serious? Have you lost your complete mind? I don’t have anything against Gaga. I grew up with Madonna. Madonna is my queen.
Abby: Where can we see you perform live?
Morgan: Monday nights I’m at “The Showgirls Show” at Mickey’s in West Hollywood. Wednesday nights I am at Urban Mo’s in San Diego with “The Dreamgirls Review.” On Thursdays I am at Raven’s show “Snatch” in Riverside or I’m at Hamburger Mary’s in West Hollywood. Friday nights I am either at VIP Nightclub in Riverside with Mayhem Miller or I am at Delta Work’s show which is a “Dreamgirls Show” at Hamburger Mary’s in Long Beach. Saturday night is my show “Scandal” at VIP in Riverside. I am at Toucans with “Tommi Rose and the Playgirls” on Sundays.
Abby: Where do we find you on line or on Twitter?
Morgan: Twitter is MorganMcMichael there is no S. I couldn’t fit the S. Then my Facebook is Morgan McMichaels and I have a fan page or a Morgasm page. My websites are Morgasmlove.com and MorganMcMichaels.com
Abby: Is there anything else you want to add?
Morgan: I just think that any girl, boy, trans gendered or questioning person in crisis should contact me or any of the Drag Race people that they love. Send a message and if they don’t get back to you contact me. I answer every message. I answer every Facebook message I get. I have to. I’m weird about it.
Abby: Thank you so much Morgan for doing this interview but for also helping those in need. I appreciate you and your efforts.
